Vintage 2026: June Activities

Here it is June already! This year, parts of our vineyard are looking good and other parts are looking not so good, by this I mean that we are still trying to lay some of our fruiting canes down on the fruiting wire. Meanwhile, shoot thinning is occuring in our reds. We are taking off excess shoots in the Barbera and the Cabernet Franc. Our vines are on a tall graft so we have to remove tons of excess shoots from that region. Here is an excample from the Cabernet Franc.

We do shoot thinning so that our canopy when it becomes mature will allow for air flow. It is one of the things that we as vineyard workers can do to keep our vines healthy. Shoot thinning creates what I call a trail of leaves.

I can attest to the fact that shoot thinning and removing excess shoots from our graft union is a time consuming task. However, one can come upon surprises like this bluebird nest in the graft union. This particular vine remained untouched so that the bluebird mommy can have her privacy. My husband also came upon what he thought was a black racer in a tree outside of the vineyard. These unexpected sightings make working in the vineyard interesting!